This invention relates to cartridges and cassettes for the storage and retention of light and pressure sensitive web type media material.
The invention is particularly adapted for the protection of donor web material containing microencapsulated image-forming chromogenic material, such as made in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,440,846 and 4,399,209, assigned to the same assignee as this invention. In the above-identified U.S. patents, an imaging system includes a photosensitive layer comprises microcapsules containing a photosensitive composition in the internal phase. This composition is both light and pressure sensitive. It is intended to be imagewise exposed to actinic radiation and thereafter subjected to a uniform rupturing force in which the microcapsules are selective ruptured and imagewise release the internal phase. The microcapsules of the donor sheets are applied to a substrate layer, and form a web of material for use in suitable utilization apparatus. The cartridges of this invention contain such material in spooled form permitting the delivery, handling and insertion of the media material into utilization apparatus.
As used in this application, the term "cartridge" includes housings and containers for spooled material in which either single or multiple spools are contained, the later often being referred to as a "cassette".
The usual velvet light trapping seals are generally unsatisfactory for the material of this type, due to the pressure applied by the seals to the outer or coated surface of the medial material. While labyrinth seals have been proposed, such arrangements have permitted the web material to come into contact with one or more surfaces of the labyrinth trap. Such contact may cause marking or damage to the pressure sensitive outer surface of the media material.